Guide to Windows Commands

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This book aims to introduce users of Microsoft Windows to command interpreters on that operating system and to the wide range of command-line tools that are available, which may come as a surprise to those who think of it as purely a graphical user interface operating system.

The Microsoft-supplied command interpreter on Windows NT is cmd.exe. You can find out which version of cmd.exe you are running using the VER command.

C:\>VER

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

C:\>

There are other command interpreters available, such as 4NT from JP Software and CMD from the ReactOS project. This book will cover them all. It starts by considering cmd.exe and then looks at differences in the other command interpreters.

First, it describes using command interpreters — how they receive, parse, and process commands from users. Then it describes the various commands available.

[edit] Guides to DOS commands

This book addresses 32-bit Windows NT command interpreters and commands applicable to the WinNT environment. It does not address commands that are specific to DOS environments and to DOS-based operating systems, such as Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me (whose Microsoft-supplied command interpreters are in fact DOS programs, not Win32 programs).

There are several guides to DOS commands available that are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License:

• The FreeDOS HTML Help at fdos.org is a fully hypertext help system for FreeDOS commands, written in 2003/2004
• The FreeDOS Spec at SourceForge is a plaintext specification, written in 1999, for how DOS commands should work in FreeDOS

Contents [hide] 1 Guides to DOS commands 2 Using command interpreters 2.1 How a command line is interpreted 2.1.1 Variable substitution 2.1.1.1 Special names 2.1.2 Quoting 2.1.3 Syntax 2.1.4 Redirection 2.2 How a command is executed 2.3 Environment variables 2.3.1 COMSPEC 2.3.2 PATH 2.3.3 PATHEXT 2.3.4 PROMPT 2.4 Invoking command interpreters 3 Built-in commands 3.1 Proposed Sections for Commands 3.2 ? 3.2.1 Description 3.3 ACTIVATE 3.3.1 Description 3.4 ALIAS 3.4.1 Synopsys 3.4.2 Description 3.5 ATTRIB 3.5.1 Synopsys 3.5.2 Description 4 Command Cross Reference 4.1 CDD 4.1.1 Synopsys 4.1.2 Description 4.2 DDEEXEC 4.3 DELAY 4.3.1 Description 4.4 DESCRIBE 4.4.1 Description 4.5 DETACH 4.6 DIRHISTORY 4.7 DIRS 4.7.1 Description 4.8 DO 4.8.1 Description 4.9 DRAWBOX 4.9.1 Description 4.10 DRAWHLINE 4.10.1 Description 4.11 DRAWVLINE 4.11.1 Description 4.12 ECHOERR 4.12.1 Description 4.13 ECHOS 4.13.1 Description 4.14 ECHOSERR 4.14.1 Description 4.15 ESET 4.15.1 Description 4.16 EVENTLOG 4.16.1 Description 4.17 EXCEPT 4.18 FFIND 4.18.1 Description 4.19 FOR 4.19.1 Description 4.20 FREE 4.20.1 Description 4.21 FTYPE 4.21.1 Description 4.22 FUNCTION 4.23 GLOBAL 4.23.1 Description 4.23.1.1 ======= 4.24 GOSUB 4.24.1 Description 4.25 HEAD 4.26 HEAD 4.27 HISTORY 4.28 IF 4.28.1 Description 4.29 IFF 4.29.1 Description 4.30 IFTP 4.31 INKEY 4.31.1 Description 4.32 INPUT 4.32.1 Description 4.33 KEYBD 4.34 KEYS 4.35 KEYSTACK 4.35.1 Description 4.36 LIST 4.36.1 Description 4.37 LOADBTM 4.37.1 Description 4.38 LOG 4.38.1 Description 4.39 MEMORY 4.39.1 Description 4.40 MKLNK 4.40.1 Description 4.41 ON 4.42 OPTION 4.42.1 Description 4.43 PATH 4.43.1 Description 4.44 PAUSE 4.44.1 Description 4.45 PDIR 4.45.1 Description 4.46 PLAYAVI 4.47 PLAYSOUND 4.48 POPD 4.48.1 Description 4.49 PRINT 4.50 PROMPT 4.50.1 Description 4.51 PUSHD 4.51.1 Description 4.52 QUERYBOX 4.52.1 Description 4.53 QUIT 4.53.1 Description 4.54 RD 4.54.1 Description 4.55 REBOOT 4.55.1 Description 4.56 RECYCLE 4.56.1 Description 4.57 REN 4.57.1 Description 4.58 RENAME 4.58.1 Description 4.59 REM 4.59.1 Description 4.60 RETURN 4.60.1 Description 4.61 RMDIR 4.61.1 Description 4.62 SCREEN 4.62.1 Description 4.63 SCRPUT 4.63.1 Description 4.64 SELECT 4.64.1 Description 4.65 SENDMAIL 4.65.1 Description 4.66 SET 4.66.1 Description 4.67 SETDOS 4.67.1 Description 4.68 SETLOCAL 4.69 SHIFT 4.69.1 Description 4.70 SHORTCUT 4.70.1 Description 4.71 SHRALIAS 4.71.1 Description 4.72 SMPP 4.73 SNPP 4.74 START 4.75 SWITCH 4.76 TAIL 4.77 TASKEND 4.78 TASKLIST 4.78.1 Description 4.79 TCTOOLBAR 4.80 TEE 4.80.1 Description 4.81 TEXT 4.81.1 Description 4.82 TIMER 4.82.1 Description 4.83 TITLE 4.83.1 Description 4.84 TOUCH 4.84.1 Description 4.85 TRUENAME 4.85.1 Description 4.86 UNALIAS 4.86.1 Description 4.87 UNFUNCTION 4.87.1 Description 4.88 UNSET 4.88.1 Description 4.89 VERIFY 4.90 Comment 4.91 VOL 4.91.1 Description 4.92 VSCRPUT 4.92.1 Description 4.93 WHICH 4.93.1 Description 4.94 WINDOW 4.94.1 Description 4.95 Y 4.95.1 Description 5 External commands 5.1 4NT 5.1.1 Synopsys 5.1.2 Description 5.2 CMD 5.2.1 Synopsys 5.2.2 Description 5.3 FIND 5.4 IPCONFIG 5.4.1 Synopsys 5.4.2 Description 5.5 MORE 5.5.1 Synopsys 5.5.2 Description 5.6 NET 5.6.1 Synopsys 5.6.2 Description 5.7 PING 5.7.1 Synopsys 5.7.2 Description

To find a list of all MS-DOS commands and a definition for all of them, open the command prompt on all Microsoft/Windows computers, and type "help"

• • DONT TYPE THE QUOTATION MARKS**

[edit] Using command interpreters

(...)

[edit] How a command line is interpreted

The parsing of a command line into a sequence of commands is complex, and varies subtly from command interpreter to command interpreter. There are, however, four main components:

Variable substitution

A command line is scanned for variable specifications, and any found are replaced with the contents of those variables.

Quoting

Special characters can be quoted, to remove their special meanings.

Syntax

Command lines are devolved into a sequence of commands according to a syntax.

Redirection

Redirection specifications are applied, and removed from the command line, before an individual command in a sequence is executed.

[edit] Variable substitution

Command lines can contain variable specifications. These comprise a % character followed by a name.

• In Microsoft's CMD, the name is ended by a second % character, except in special cases such as the batch file parameters %1, %2, and so forth.
• In 4NT, the name is ended either by a second % character or a "pseudo-whitespace" character (i.e. any character that the old COMMAND interpreter for MS-DOS version 2 considered to be "whitespace" for the purposes of parsing), with special cases for batch file parameters and for platform-neutral metacharacters.

Variable specifications are replaced with values. The value used to replace a variable specification is as follows:

• (4NT only) For the variable specifications %+ and %=, the expansion is the current value of a particular metacharacter, for %+ being the metacharacter for command separator and for %= being the metacharacter for quoting. The reason for this is that 4NT allows the metacharacters to be changed with the SETDOS and OPTION commands. The special %+ and %= specifications allow batch file writers to write batch files that will work irrespective of what the current metacharacters may actually have been set to by the user; whereas a batch file written assuming that & is the command separator metacharacter will not work correctly if the command separator metacharacter is changed.
• For variable specification names that match the names of environment variables, the replacement is the value of the named environment variable. For example: %PATH% is replaced by the value of the PATH environment variable.
• For variable specifications that name batch file parameters (i.e. that are non-negative decimal numbers), the replacement is the value of the parameter taken from the arguments with which the batch file was invoked (subject to any subsequent modifications by the SHIFT command). For example: %2 is replaced by the value of the second batch file parameter.
• (4NT only) For variable specification names that do not match the names of environment variables, but that do match various "special" names, the replacement is a special value (usually constructed on the fly) that the name represents.

[edit] Special names

This is a list of the special names and what they expand to:

Name	Replacement Value Used
_CWD	(4NT only)The current working directory, not ending in a slash character if it is not the root directory of the current drive
_CWDS	(4NT only)The current working directory, guaranteed to end in a slash character
%CD%	The current directory, not ending in a slash character if it is not in the root directory of the current drive
%TIME%	The system time in HH:MM:SS.mm format.
%DATE%	The system date in YYYY-MM-DD format

This table is incomplete. You can help Wikibooks by expanding it.

[edit] Quoting

To prevent the metacharacters that control command syntax and redirection from having their special meanings, quoting is used. This takes two forms:

• Although they don't process quotation marks, in command arguments, specially themselves, but simply pass them along as-is to the commands executed, command interpreters do recognise when quotation marks (") surround metacharacters. The & metacharacter does not have its usual effect on command syntax if it is within a pair of quotation marks.

  e.g. The command line echo "&" will invoke the ECHO command passing it the three characters "&" as its command tail, rather than split the command line in twain at the & character as would occur if the character were not within quotation marks.

• The "escape" character (always a ^ in Microsoft's CMD, by default a ^ unless changed in 4NT) used in front of a metacharacter also prevents that metacharacter from having its usual effect on command syntax. The "escape" character itself is stripped from the command line before it is passed to the command actually being invoked.

  e.g. The command line echo ^& will invoke the ECHO command passing it the character & as its command tail, rather than split the command line in twain at the & character as would otherwise occur.

[edit] Syntax

Command lines are devolved into a sequence of commands according to a syntax. In that syntax, simple commands may be combined to form pipelines, which may in turn be combined to form compound commands, which finally may be turned into parenthesized commands.

A simple command is just a command name, a command tail, and some redirection specifications. An example of a simple command is dir *.txt > somefile.

A pipeline is several simple commands joined together with the "pipe" metacharacter (properly known as the "vertical bar"). The standard output of the simple command preceding each vertical bar is connected to the standard input of the simple command following it, via a pipe. The command interpreter runs all of the simple commands in the pipeline in parallel. An example of a pipeline (comprising two simple commands) is dir *.txt | more.

A compound command is a set of pipelines separated by conjunctions. The pipelines are executed sequentially, one after the other, and the conjunction controls whether the command interpreter executes the next pipeline or not. An example of a compound command (comprising two pipelines, which themselves are just simple commands) is move file.txt file.bak && dir > file.txt.

The conjunctions are:

&

The simplest conjunction. The next pipeline is always executed after the current one has completed executing.

&&

A positive conditional conjunction. The next pipeline is executed if the current one completes executing with a zero exit status.

||

A negative conditional conjunction. The next pipeline is executed if the current one completes executing with a non-zero exit status.

A parenthesized command is a compound command enclosed in parentheses (i.e. ( and )). From the point of view of syntax, this turns a compound command into a simple command, whose overall output can be redirected.

For example: The command line ( pushd temp & dir & popd ) > somefile causes the standard output of the entire compound command ( pushd temp & dir & popd ) to be redirected to somefile.

[edit] Redirection

Redirection specifications are applied, and removed from the command line, before an individual command in a sequence is executed. Redirection specifications control where the standard input, standard output, and standard error file handles for a simple command point. They override any effects to those file handles that may have resulted from pipelining. (See the preceding section on command syntax.) Redirection signs > and >> can be prefixed with 1 for the standard output (same as no prefix) or 2 for the standard error.

The redirection specifications are:

<>

Redirect standard input to read from the named file.

> filename

Redirect standard output to write to the named file, overwriting its previous contents.

>& filename

Join standard output and standard error together and redirect them to write to the named file, overwriting its previous contents.

>> filename

Redirect standard output to write to the named file, appending to the end of its previous contents.

>>& filename

Join standard output and standard error together and redirect them to write to the named file, appending to the end of its previous contents.

[edit] How a command is executed

(...)

[edit] Environment variables

The environment variables of the command interpreter process are inherted by the processes of any (external) commands that it executes. A few environment variables are used by the command interpreter itself. Changing them changes its operation.

Environment variables are affected by the SET, UNSET, ESET, PATH, and PROMPT commands.

The special variable names in 4NT are not environment variables. They merely have the appearance of them when it comes to variable substitution. They cannot be affected by the aforementioned commands. However, it is possible to create environment variables with the same names as the special variables. In which case the environment variables take precedence during variable substitution. (Creating such environment variables is not recommended. An environment variable named %_CWD% is likely to cause confusion and unexpected behaviour in batch files, for example.)

The command interpreter inherits its initial set of environment variables from the process that created it. In the case of command interpreters invoked from desktop shortcuts this will be Windows Explorer, for example.

Command interpreters generally have textual user interfaces, not graphical ones, and so do not recognize the Windows message that informs applications that the environment variable template in the Registry has been changed. Changing the environment variables in Control Panel will cause Windows Explorer to update its own environment variables from the template in the Registry, and thus change the environment variables that any subsequently invoked command interpreters will inherit. However, it will not cause command interpreters that are already running to update their environment variables from the template in the Registry.

[edit] COMSPEC

The COMSPEC environment variable contains the full pathname of the command interpreter program file.

• In the case of Microsoft's CMD, this is just inherited from the parent process, and is thus indirectly derived from the setting of COMSPEC in the environment variable template in the Registry.
• In the case of 4NT, each command interpreter process explicitly sets COMSPEC to name its own program file at startup. So even if the COMSPEC environment variable derived from the template in the Registry names the program file of another command interpreter, from within 4NT, and from within any external commands that it invokes, COMSPEC will always name the program file of 4NT.

[edit] PATH

The value of the PATH environment variable comprises a list of directory names, separated by semi-colon characters. This is the list of directories that are searched, in order, when locating the program file of an external command to execute.

[edit] PATHEXT

The value of the PATHEXT environment variable comprises a list of filename extensions, separated by semi-colon characters. This is the list of filename extensions that are applied, in order, when locating the program file of an external command to execute.

[edit] PROMPT

The value of the PROMPT environment variable controls the text that is emitted whenever the command interpreter displays the prompt (i.e. whenever prompting for a new command line in interactive mode, or whenever echoing a batch file line in batch file mode).

Various special character sequences in the value of the PROMPT environment variable cause various special effects when the prompt is displayed, as in the following table:

Characters	Microsoft's CMD	4NT	Effect
$$	Yes	Yes	causes the $ character itself to be written out
$A	Yes	Yes	causes a & symbol to be written out (This is a convenience measure, since it is difficult, because it involves quoting, to place a literal & in the value of the PROMPT environment variable using the SET command.)
$B	Yes	Yes	' (pipe symbol) to be written out
$C	Yes	Yes	Left parenthesis '('
$D	Yes	Yes	Prints current date
$E	Yes	Yes	ESC (ASCII code 27)
$F	Yes	Yes	Right parenthesis ')'
$G	Yes	Yes	Prints greater-than symbol '>'
$H	Yes	Yes	Backspace (deletes previous character)
$L	Yes	Yes	Prints less-than symbol '<'
$N	Yes	Yes	Prints current drive letter
$P	Yes	Yes	Prints current drive letter and full path
$Q	Yes	Yes	Prints '=' (equals sign)
$S	Yes	Yes	Prints ' ' (space character)
$T	Yes	Yes	Prints current system time
$V	Yes	Yes	Prints Windows XP version number
$_	Yes	Yes	Prints (carriage return character, aka "enter")
$+	No	Yes*	If command extensions are enabled, prints a number of '+' characters to represent the number of levels pushed on the PUSHD directory stack

This table is incomplete. You can help Wikibooks by expanding it.

[edit] Invoking command interpreters

[edit] Built-in commands

These commands are all built in to the command interpreter itself, and cannot be changed. Sometimes this is because they require access to internal command interpreter data structures, or modify properties of the command interpreter process itself.

[edit] Proposed Sections for Commands

Tips and Tricks

To make this guide easier to use it is intended to split it into the following sections (Windows XP cmd.exe commands):

2. File and Directory Management

• ATTRIB - Displays or changes file attributes.
• CD, CHDIR - Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
• COPY - Copies one or more files to another location.
• DEL - Deletes one or more files.
• DIR - Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
• ERASE - Deletes one or more files.
• MD, MKDIR - Creates a directory.
• MOVE - Moves one or more files from one directory to another directory.
• RMDIR - Removes a directory.
• REN, RENAME - Renames a file or files.
• POPD - Restores the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD.
• PUSHD - Saves the current directory then changes it.
• RD - Removes a directory.
• REPLACE - Replaces files.
• TREE - Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path.
• XCOPY - Copies files and directory trees.

3. File Commands

• COMP - Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
• FC - Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the differences between them.
• FIND - Searches for a text string in a file or files.
• FINDSTR - Searches for strings in files.
• MORE - Displays output one screen at a time.
• PRINT - Prints a text file.
• SORT - Sorts input.
• TYPE - Displays the contents of a text file.

4. Environment Commands

• ASSOC - Displays or modifies file extension associations.
• AT - Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer.
• DATE - Displays or sets the date.
• FTYPE - Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations.
• LABEL - Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk.
• PATH - Displays or sets a search path for executable files.
• SET - Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment variables.
• SUBST - Associates a path with a drive letter.
• TIME - Displays or sets the system time.
• VER - Displays the Windows version.
• VOL - Displays a disk volume label and serial number.

Batch File Scripting

• CALL - Calls one batch program from another.
• CMD - Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter.
• ECHO - Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.
• ENDLOCAL - Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file.
• EXIT - Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter).
• FOR - Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.
• GOTO - Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled line in a batch program.
• IF - Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
• PAUSE - Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message.
• REM - Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS.
• SETLOCAL - Begins localization of environment changes in a batch file.
• SHIFT - Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files.
• START - Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.

Interactive Commands

• CLS - Clears the screen.
• COLOR - Sets the default console foreground and background colors.
• DOSKEY - Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and creates macros.
• HELP - Provides Help information for Windows commands.
• PROMPT - Changes the Windows command prompt.
• TITLE - Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session.

Other

• BREAK - Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
• CACLS - Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files.
• CHCP - Displays or sets the active code page number.
• CHKDSK - Checks a disk and displays a status report.
• CHKNTFS - Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.
• COMPACT - Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS partitions.
• CONVERT - Converts FAT volumes to NTFS. You cannot convert the current drive.
• DISKCOMP - Compares the contents of two floppy disks.
• DISKCOPY - Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another.
• FORMAT - Formats a disk for use with Windows.
• GRAFTABL - Enables Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode.
• MODE - Configures a system device.
• RECOVER - Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk.
• VERIFY - Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk.

[edit] ?

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the list of built-in commands.

[edit] ACTIVATE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command activates a given window.

[edit] ALIAS

4NT

[edit] Synopsys

• ALIAS /?
• ALIAS
• ALIAS name
• ALIAS name=value

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets aliases. In the second form, it writes the current list of aliases (in "name=value" form) to standard output. In the third form, it writes the value (only) of the named alias to standard output. In the fourth form, it modifies or creates the alias name assigning it the value value.

[edit] ATTRIB

4NT

[edit] Synopsys

• ATTRIB /?
• ATTRIB
• ATTRIB search-wildcards
• ATTRIB modifications search-wildcards

Modification instructions:

• To add an attribute attach a '+' in front of it.
• To remove an attribute attach a '-' in front of it
• Attributes include
  • A - Archived
  • H - Hidden
  • S - System
  • R - Read-only

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets file attributes. With no arguments, it displays the attributes of all files in the current directory. With no attribute modification instructions, it displays the attributes of the files and directories that match the given search wildcard specifications.

Compare chmod.

[edit] Command Cross Reference

Command	cmd.exe	4NT	ReactOS CMD	Description	Module
?	NO	YES	YES	Display internal commands.
/*	NO	YES	NO	Process the file as a REXX script.
ALIAS	NO	YES	YES	Create "DOSKEY"-like macros in memory
ASSOC	YES	YES	YES	Associates an extension with a file type (FTYPE)
ATTRIB	NO	YES	YES	Displays or changes file attributes.
BATCOMP	NO	YES	NO	This command compresses batch files into a pre-tokenized form.
BDEBUGGER	NO	YES	NO	Start the 4NT debugger
BEEP	NO	YES	YES
BREAK	YES	YES	NO	Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
CALCS	NO	NO	NO	Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files. (External)
CALL	YES	YES	YES	Calls one batch program from another.	Batch File Scripting
CANCEL	NO	YES	NO	This command cancels the execution of all batch files. EXIT/B
CD, CHDIR	YES	YES	YES	This command displays or sets the current directory.	File and Directory Management
CHCP	YES	YES	YES	Displays or sets the active code page number.
CHOICE	NO	YES	NO	Provide user choice to error-level	Choice.exe is in the Resource Kit
CLS	YES	YES	YES	This command clears the screen.	Interactive Commands
COLOR	YES	YES	YES	Sets the default console foreground and background colors.	Interactive Commands
COPY	YES	YES	YES	This command copies files.	File and Directory Management
DATE	YES	YES	YES	Display and set the system date
DEL, ERASE	YES	YES	YES	Deletes one or more files.
DIR	YES	YES	YES	Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.
ECHO	YES	YES	YES	Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.
ENDLOCAL	YES	YES	YES	Ends localization of environment changes in a batch file.
EXIT	YES	YES	YES	Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter).
EXTPROC	NO	YES	NO	Passes the batch to an external processor (eg /#)
FOR	YES	YES	YES	Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.
FREE	NO	YES	YES	Returns the amount of free space on a drive.
FTYPE	YES	YES	NO	Sets the file type command.
HELP	NO	YES	YES	Provides Help information for Windows commands.
IF	YES	YES	YES	Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
LABEL	NO	NO	YES	Display or changes the system label
MD, MKDIR	YES	YES	YES	Creates a directory.	File and Directory Management
MOVE	YES	YES	YES	Moves a file to a new location
PATH	YES	YES	YES	Sets or modifies the PATH environment
PAUSE	YES	YES	YES	Causes the command session to pause for user input.
POPD	YES	YES	YES	Changes to the drive and directory poped from the directory stack
Prompt	YES	YES	YES	Sets or modifies the string displayed when waiting for input.
PUSHD	YES	YES	YES	Pushes the current directory onto the stack, and changes to the new directory.
RD / RMDIR	YES	YES	YES	Removes the directory.
REM	YES	YES	YES	A comment command. Unlike double-colon (::), the command can be executed.
REN / RENAME	YES	YES	YES	Renames a file or directory
SCREEN	NO	YES	YES	Moves cursor to row, col, and prints text.
SET	YES	YES	YES	Sets or displays shell environment variables
SETLOCAL	YES	YES	YES	Creates a child-environment for the batch file.
SHIFT	YES	YES	YES	Moves the batch parameters forward.
START	YES	YES	YES	Starts a program with various options.
TIME	YES	YES	YES	Displays or sets the system clock
TIMER	NO	YES	YES	Starts or stops a stopwatch to time processes.
TITLE	YES	YES	YES	Change the window title
TYPE	YES	YES	YES	Print the content of a file to the console.
VER	YES	YES	YES	Show the command processor, operating system versions.
VERIFY	YES	YES	YES	Verify that file copy has been done correctly
VOL	YES	YES	YES	Shows the label of the current volume.

[edit] CDD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Synopsys

• CDD /?
• CDD path
• CDD drive:path

[edit] Description

This command sets the current drive and the current directory of the command interpreter process (and thus the current directory that all external commands will inherit). In the second form, it changes the current directory on the current drive to path. In the third form, it changes the current directory on the specified drive to path, and changes the current drive to that drive.

[edit] DDEEXEC

4NT

[edit] DELAY

4NT

[edit] Description

This command pauses execution for a specified period.

[edit] DESCRIBE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets file descriptions.

[edit] DETACH

4NT

DIR: Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] DIRHISTORY

4NT

[edit] DIRS

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the directory stack, maintained by the PUSHD and POPD commands.

[edit] DO

4NT

[edit] Description

This command causes execution to loop.

[edit] DRAWBOX

4NT

[edit] Description

This command draws a box on the screen.

[edit] DRAWHLINE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command draws a horizontal line on the screen. DRAWHLINE

[edit] DRAWVLINE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command draws a vertical line on the screen.

[edit] ECHOERR

4NT Reactos CMD

[edit] Description

This command writes a message to standard error with a newline afterwards.

[edit] ECHOS

4NT, Reactos CMD

[edit] Description

This command writes a message to standard output, without adding a newline afterwards.

[edit] ECHOSERR

4NT, Reactos CMD

[edit] Description

This command writes a message to standard error, without adding a newline afterwards.

[edit] ESET

4NT

[edit] Description

This command allows the user to interactively edit and set environment variables.

[edit] EVENTLOG

4NT

[edit] Description

This command adds entries to the Windows event log.

[edit] EXCEPT

4NT

[edit] FFIND

4NT

[edit] Description

This command finds files, or searches files for text strings.

[edit] FOR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command iterates over a series of values, executing a command.

Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.

FOR %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]

 %variable  Specifies a single letter replaceable parameter.
(set)      Specifies a set of one or more files.  Wildcards may be used
command    Specifies the command to carry out for each file.
command-parameters
           Specifies parameters or switches for the specified command.

To use the FOR command in a batch program, specify %%variable instead of %variable. Variable names are case sensitive, so %i is different from %I.

If Command Extensions are enabled, the following additional forms of the FOR command are supported:

FOR /D %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]

   If set contains wildcards, then specifies to match against directory
  names instead of file names.

FOR /R [[drive:]path] %variable IN (set) DO command [command-parameters]

   Walks the directory tree rooted at [drive:]path, executing the FOR
  statement in each directory of the tree.  If no directory
  specification is specified after /R then the current directory is
  assumed.  If set is just a single period (.) character then it
  will just enumerate the directory tree.

FOR /L %variable IN (start,step,end) DO command [command-parameters]

   The set is a sequence of numbers from start to end, by step amount.
  So (1,1,5) would generate the sequence 1 2 3 4 5 and (5,-1,1) would
  generate the sequence (5 4 3 2 1)

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (file-set) DO command [command-parameters

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ("string") DO command [command-parameters

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ('command') DO command [command-parameter

   or, if usebackq option present:

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (file-set) DO command [command-parameters

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN ('string') DO command [command-parameters

FOR /F ["options"] %variable IN (`command`) DO command [command-parameter

   filenameset is one or more file names.  Each file is opened, read
  and processed before going on to the next file in filenameset.
  Processing consists of reading in the file, breaking it up into
  individual lines of text and then parsing each line into zero or
  more tokens.  The body of the for loop is then called with the
  variable value(s) set to the found token string(s).  By default, /F
  passes the first blank separated token from each line of each file.
  Blank lines are skipped.  You can override the default parsing
  behavior by specifying the optional "options" parameter.  This
  is a quoted string which contains one or more keywords to specify
  different parsing options.  The keywords are:

       eol=c           - specifies an end of line comment character
                        (just one)
      skip=n          - specifies the number of lines to skip at the
                        beginning of the file.
      delims=xxx      - specifies a delimiter set.  This replaces the
                        default delimiter set of space and tab.
      tokens=x,y,m-n  - specifies which tokens from each line are to
                        be passed to the for body for each iteration.
                        This will cause additional variable names to
                        be allocated.  The m-n form is a range,
                        specifying the mth through the nth tokens.  If
                        the last character in the tokens= string is an
                        asterisk, then an additional variable is
                        allocated and receives the remaining text on
                        the line after the last token parsed.
      usebackq        - specifies that the new semantics are in force,
                        where a back quoted string is executed as a
                        command and a single quoted string is a
                        literal string command and allows the use of
                        double quotes to quote file names in
                        filenameset.

   Some examples might help:

FOR /F "eol=; tokens=2,3* delims=, " %i in (myfile.txt) do @echo %i %j %k

   would parse each line in myfile.txt, ignoring lines that begin with
  a semicolon, passing the 2nd and 3rd token from each line to the for
  body, with tokens delimited by commas and/or spaces.  Notice the for
  body statements reference %i to get the 2nd token, %j to get the
  3rd token, and %k to get all remaining tokens after the 3rd.  For
  file names that contain spaces, you need to quote the filenames with
  double quotes.  In order to use double quotes in this manner, you als
  need to use the usebackq option, otherwise the double quotes will be
  interpreted as defining a literal string to parse.

   %i is explicitly declared in the for statement and the %j and %k
  are implicitly declared via the tokens= option.  You can specify up
  to 26 tokens via the tokens= line, provided it does not cause an
  attempt to declare a variable higher than the letter 'z' or 'Z'.
  Remember, FOR variables are single-letter, case sensitive, global,
  and you can't have more than 52 total active at any one time.

   You can also use the FOR /F parsing logic on an immediate string, by
  making the filenameset between the parenthesis a quoted string,
  using single quote characters.  It will be treated as a single line
  of input from a file and parsed.

   Finally, you can use the FOR /F command to parse the output of a
  command.  You do this by making the filenameset between the
  parenthesis a back quoted string.  It will be treated as a command
  line, which is passed to a child CMD.EXE and the output is captured
  into memory and parsed as if it was a file.  So the following
  example:

     FOR /F "usebackq delims==" %i IN (`set`) DO @echo %i

   would enumerate the environment variable names in the current
  environment.

In addition, substitution of FOR variable references has been enhanced. You can now use the following optional syntax:

   %~I         - expands %I removing any surrounding quotes (")
  %~fI        - expands %I to a fully qualified path name
  %~dI        - expands %I to a drive letter only
  %~pI        - expands %I to a path only
  %~nI        - expands %I to a file name only
  %~xI        - expands %I to a file extension only
  %~sI        - expanded path contains short names only
  %~aI        - expands %I to file attributes of file
  %~tI        - expands %I to date/time of file
  %~zI        - expands %I to size of file
  %~$PATH:I   - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                 environment variable and expands %I to the
                 fully qualified name of the first one found.
                 If the environment variable name is not
                 defined or the file is not found by the
                 search, then this modifier expands to the
                 empty string

The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:

   %~dpI       - expands %I to a drive letter and path only
  %~nxI       - expands %I to a file name and extension only
  %~fsI       - expands %I to a full path name with short names only
  %~dp$PATH:I - searches the directories listed in the PATH
                 environment variable for %I and expands to the
                 drive letter and path of the first one found.
  %~ftzaI     - expands %I to a DIR like output line

In the above examples %I and PATH can be replaced by other valid values. The %~ syntax is terminated by a valid FOR variable name. Picking upper case variable names like %I makes it more readable and avoids confusion with the modifiers, which are not case sensitive.

[edit] FREE

4NT, Reactos CMD

[edit] Description

This command displays the free space on a drive.

[edit] FTYPE

4NT, Microsoft CMD

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets the command to be executed for a file type.

[edit] FUNCTION

4NT

[edit] GLOBAL

4NT

[edit] Description

This command searches for directories and executes a command with the current directory set to each directory.

[edit] =======

[edit] GOSUB

4NT

[edit] Description

[edit] HEAD

4NT

This command transfers control to a subroutine within a batch file, so that control can later be transferred back by RETURN.

[edit] HEAD

4NT

HELP

YES

YES

?

This command invokes the on-line help.

[edit] HISTORY

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] IF

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command conditionally executes a command.

Documentation is available by entering IF /? to CMD prompt.

What is not documented is that the IF command barfs when it encounters a string containing a '/' character. This can be very frustrating when you need to process a line with this fairly common character that should never be excluded. The problem no doubt comes from the IF command confusing the '/' as part of a /I (or /?) directive on the IF command line.

[edit] IFF

4NT

[edit] Description

This command conditionally executes one or more commands, spread across multiple lines.

[edit] IFTP

4NT

[edit] INKEY

4NT

[edit] Description

This command waits for a key to be pressed.

[edit] INPUT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command prompts the user for input.

[edit] KEYBD

4NT

[edit] KEYS

4NT

[edit] KEYSTACK

4NT

[edit] Description

This command sends keyboard input to other processes on the same desktop.

[edit] LIST

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the contents of files using a full-screen interactive text user interface.

[edit] LOADBTM

4NT

[edit] Description

This command controls whether batch files are completely loaded into memory before execution.

[edit] LOG

4NT

[edit] Description

This command controls command logging.

[edit] MEMORY

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays information about available memory.

[edit] MKLNK

4NT

[edit] Description

This command creates NTFS hard links. Reactos CMD has MKLINK.

MOVE

YES

YES

YES

This command moves files.

File and Directory Management

[edit] ON

4NT

[edit] OPTION

4NT

[edit] Description

This command invokes the interactive configuration utility or allows configuration options to be altered non-interactively.

[edit] PATH

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets the value of the PATH environment variable.

[edit] PAUSE

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command prompts the user and waits for a line of input to be entered.

[edit] PDIR

4NT

[edit] Description

This command lists directories in a user-controlled format.

[edit] PLAYAVI

4NT

[edit] PLAYSOUND

4NT

[edit] POPD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command removes directories from the directory stack and changes directory.

[edit] PRINT

4NT

[edit] PROMPT

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

The PROMPT command can be used to change or reset the cmd.exe prompt. This command sets the value of the PROMPT environment variable.

C:\>PROMPT MyPrompt$G

MyPrompt>CD
C:\

MyPrompt>PROMPT

C:\>

The PROMPT command is used to set the prompt to "MyPrompt>". The CD shows that the current directory path is "C:\". Using PROMPT with out any parameters sets the prompt back to the directory path.

[edit] PUSHD

ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command adds the current directory to the directly stack and changes directory.

[edit] QUERYBOX

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays a query box to the user, prompting for input.

[edit] QUIT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command terminates the execution of the current batch file.

[edit] RD

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command removes directories.

[edit] REBOOT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command logs out the current user, and optionally then shuts down, powers off, or reboots the machine.

[edit] RECYCLE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command empties the recycle bin.

[edit] REN

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command renames files and directories.

[edit] RENAME

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This is an alternative spelling of REN.

[edit] REM

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command does nothing. It is used for remarks in batch files.

[edit] RETURN

4NT

[edit] Description

This command returns control from a subroutine in a batch file, returning to the place whence the subroutine was called.

[edit] RMDIR

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This is an alternative spelling of RD.

[edit] SCREEN

4NT

[edit] Description

This command moves the cursor to a specified position on the screen, optionally then writing text there.

[edit] SCRPUT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command writes text to the screen at a specified position without moving the cursor.

[edit] SELECT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command allows the user to interactively select a set of files, and then executes a command against those files.

[edit] SENDMAIL

4NT

[edit] Description

This command sends mail.

[edit] SET

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays or sets environment variables.

[edit] SETDOS

4NT

[edit] Description

This command sets command interpreter control flags.

[edit] SETLOCAL

4NT

[edit] SHIFT

Microsoft's CMD, ReactOS CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command shifts the batch file arguments along.

[edit] SHORTCUT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command creates shortcuts for Windows Explorer.

[edit] SHRALIAS

4NT

[edit] Description

This command controls global alias sharing.

[edit] SMPP

4NT

[edit] SNPP

4NT

[edit] START

Microsoft EXE, 4NT, Reactos CMD Starts in new window.

START /LOW program.exe
ECHO started, but i am not waiting for finish

just starts program.exe with low priority and then immediately follows next command.

[edit] SWITCH

4NT

[edit] TAIL

4NT

[edit] TASKEND

4NT

[edit] TASKLIST

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the Windows task list.

[edit] TCTOOLBAR

4NT

[edit] TEE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command copies what it receives on its standard input to a set of files and to its standard output. It is a "T-piece" for a command pipeline.

[edit] TEXT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays in-line text contained in batch files.

TIME

YES

YES

YES

This command displays or sets the current time.

[edit] TIMER

4NT

[edit] Description

This command starts, stops, or displays the current value of one of several stopwatches.

[edit] TITLE

4NT

[edit] Description

This command controls the console window title.

[edit] TOUCH

4NT

[edit] Description

This command alters the date and time stamps of files and directories.

TREE

YES

YES

?

This command displays the tree structure of directories and files.

[edit] TRUENAME

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the true name of a file or directory.

TYPE

YES

YES

YES

This command displays the contents of files.

[edit] UNALIAS

4NT

[edit] Description

This command deletes aliases.

[edit] UNFUNCTION

4NT

[edit] Description

This command deletes functions.

[edit] UNSET

4NT

[edit] Description

This command deletes environment variables.

VER

YES

YES

YES

This command displays the version number of the command interpreter and the version of Windows.

[edit] VERIFY

Microsoft CMD, Reactos CMD, 4NT

[edit] Comment

Set or clear the setting to verify whether COPY files etc are written correctly.

[edit] VOL

Microsoft CMD, Reactos CMD, 4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays volume labels.

[edit] VSCRPUT

4NT

[edit] Description

This command writes text to the screen at a specified position without moving the cursor.

[edit] WHICH

4NT

[edit] Description

This command displays the locations of other commands.

[edit] WINDOW

4NT

[edit] Description

This command alters the size of the console window.

[edit] Y

4NT

[edit] Description

This command reads its standard input and a set of files, writing what it reads to its standard output. It is a "Y-piece" for a command pipeline.

[edit] External commands

These commands are separate executable program files, supplied with the operating system by Microsoft, or bundled as standard with the third-party command interpreters. By replacing the program files, the meanings and functions of these commands can be changed.

Many, but not all, external commands support the "/?" convention, causing them to write on-line usage information to their standard output and then to exit with a status code of 0.

[edit] 4NT

4NT

[edit] Synopsys

• 4NT /?
• 4NT
• 4NT /C command

[edit] Description

Invoke (another instance of) 4NT.

[edit] CMD

Microsoft, ReactOS

[edit] Synopsys

• CMD /?
• CMD
• CMD /C command

[edit] Description

Invoke (another instance of) either Microsoft's CMD or the ReactOS CMD.

[edit] FIND

Microsoft

[edit] IPCONFIG

Microsoft

[edit] Synopsys

Displays Windows IP Configuration. Shows configuration by connection and the name of that connection (i.e. Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection) Below that the specific info pertaining to that connection is displayed such as DNS suffix and ip address and subnet mask.

• IPCONFIG /?
• IPCONFIG

(...)

[edit] Description

(...)

[edit] MORE

Microsoft Internal in 4NT

[edit] Synopsys

• MORE /?
• MORE [/E]
• MORE [/E] filename

[edit] Description

(...)

[edit] NET

Microsoft

[edit] Synopsys

• NET /?
• NET

(...)

[edit] Description

(...)

[edit] PING

Microsoft

[edit] Synopsys

• PING /?
• PING address
• PING hostname

[edit] Description

Send ICMP/IP "echo" packets over the network to the designated address (or the first IP address that the designated hostname maps to via name lookup) and print all responses received.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Guide_to_Windows_Commands"

Subjects: Books to be broken into subpages | Guide to Windows Commands | Microsoft Windows